I wanted to do a big exciting Christmas post with a bazillion pictures, but I cant.
We are still computer less in our humble abode, and my main internet access is either my phone or on occasion when the hubby brings home his work laptop (like tonight).
And unfortunately his place of work frowns on personal pictures...especially my plethora of instagram pics...downloaded onto the computer. I thought I would be sneaky and just plug my phone in and try to take the pictures from there but his laptop is a mac and Im not very good at navigating macs. Hopefully one day I will be. I still wanted to document our Christmas though, before I start missing all the fun little memories. Ill have to do a big upload of pictures soon. Were praying that with our taxes we can slip in a new computer or laptop.
Ill start with Christmas Eve. We went to Tanners grandparents with all his cousins and all the great grandbabies. We had the traditional Swedish Lutefisk [fish] dinner. After dinner we all have rice pudding and hidden in one cup is an almond. The tradition is usually whoever gets the almond is the next to get married and/or pregnant. Guess who got the almond? yup...me! My mother in law saw the almond and purposely gave me that cup, so I think it jinxed it. :( which is to bad because I would really love to make Hudson a big brother...hopefully one day. After dinner we danced around outside, in the FREEZING snow, to welcome Christmas and the spirit. Its a very big tradition in Sweden, and something Tanners grandpa did growing up. I think its fun to have such cultural traditions to be a part of. All the great grand babies got new pillows with homemade pillowcases. Hudson loves it. If he catches Tanner or I laying down on it he gets so mad and says " Daddy NO! Hudsons my pillow". Afterwards we went to Tanners parents house for a minute and Hudson and his cousin Ella got new jammies. Then we went to my parents house. I know, its a lot of running around, but Im glad everyone lives close-ish so we can spend the holidays with all of our loved ones. We always open one present on Christmas eve. Me and Tanner chose not to open one, since lets face it the majority of presents under the tree are for Mr. Hudson. He opened some clothes, a new jacket and a beanie. It was a short visit, so we headed home and put out some milk & cookies for santa and went to bed.
In the morning we had to by to my parents around 930 for breakfast. Hudson is usually up between 630-7 so giving us enough time to open our presents as a family. Well, 730 rolled around and he was STILL asleep. So we woke him up. We headed downstairs to see all our goodies. We did a major parent fail and let Hudson choose what present he wanted to open. Big no no. He of course chose the big [literally like up to his waist and he can sit on it] Mega blocks fire truck. It has a working ladder and everything. All he wanted to do was push that around. He could care less about anything else under the tree. I finally had to distract him and hide it in his room while we opened the rest of the presents. Hudson was spoiled and got the following: Hulk zip-up hoodie, spiderman slippers, Tag Jr, Leap frog shape and letter learning to draw thingee, Lots of books, a bubble machine, A new chalkboard/whiteboard esal, a bunch of toy cars and car books with wheels, chugginton movie, jake and the neverland pirates movie and tooth brushes, a buzz and woody doll! I got Tanner some basket ball shorts, some new movies, candy, some odds and ends random things, and then I wrapped up money in a box. He has been saving for a new gun and thats really what he wanted. I had to wrap it though, I hate the thought of just giving him cash. Tanner on the other hand won husband of the year!! He totally and compleletly surprised me and took advantage of his first ever Christmas bonus and got me a Nikon D3100 DSLR camera. Im beyond extatic!! We have all been sick the last couple weeks, so I cant wait to feel better and really get to play with my new baby :)
We got to my moms, and had breakfast. Yummy ham, eggs, and cinnamon rolls. Then we opened presents. we opened presents from my parents, my grandparents, and my aunt and uncle all at my moms. I know im forgetting A TON [we were spoiled] but Tanner and I got lots of house decorations, some board games, some clothes, a new crock pot that can actually fit more then 2 chicken breasts, a dinner gift card, I got some stuff for my new home business [more on that in a future post], and Tanner got a gun safe. Hudson was spoiled again. He got lots and lots of clothes, some books, some tag jr books, coloring books, a giant floor abc train puzzle, some toy cars with a ramp to ride on, a long tunnel to crawl through, his great grandparents got him his first bike- it will be a big hit this summer im sure, and my parents got him basically heaven on earth. A train table! Little man loves anything with wheels and always trys to make trains out of everything. So that was the best gift ever and he plays with it practically every day so far. After we ate we went to my great grandparents (Hudsons great greats). I love seeing them, they are some of my favorite people in the world And I love seeing 5 generations. It is so fun. They got Hudson some cute little toy planes, a plush football and some snacks. They got me and Tanner a cafe rio gift card! YUMMY
We headed home for a couple hours to rest, then went out to Tanners parents for dinner. We were spoiled once again. We sure are blessed with some amazing families. We got lots of fun stuff, I got more stuff for my home business, Tanner got some more basketball shorts and some new nikes, we got a garage door opener -FINALLY-, we got the movie brave, and a few other odds and ends. Hudson got some great stuff too. He got a Jake and the neverland pirates case with Jakes sword and compass and some other stuff, Jake and the pirates little action figures, Some clothes, an art set, a bedtime stories book, and a big tool bench/work station from grandma and grandpa. His favorite gift though was working toy garbage truck!! I had no idea they made anything like this. But it has a garbage can that it actually picks up and dumps in the back and makes all the noises. It was the perfect gift, Hudson has a major obsession with garbage trucks. The first couple days after Christmas the garbage truck [which is not small] had to sit at the dinner table with us :/ silly kid.
Overall we had a fantastic Christmas and could really feel how loved we are by all our family and friends. I love that they are so supportive of me as well. It really means A lot. This Christmas was so fun with Hudson. He will be 2 in a couple weeks so he was at a really good age. Doesn't totally get the concept, but still gets excited. He would ask about Santa every day and we would talk about him and all the reindeer. He got to see santa 3 times! And when we would ask him if he wanted santa to come to our house he would say "no santa, scared". Its crazy how just depending on your birthday it really plays alot on our holidays with a baby/toddler. We never had a "baby" for christmas. Hudson was 11 months last year and was walking and babbling. And this year almost 2! But we have some friends, and their twins were just a couple months last year for their first Christmas, and this Christmas they were just over a year. So its going to take them 3 Christmas's to really have their boys excited and into opening gifts, while it only took us 2. Something that makes me think anyways..I know my mind thinks about crazy odd things.
As far as New Years go, we spent it sick :( Tanner and I had the stomach flu, I even missed a few days of work, and Hudson ended up with a big Fever and cough. I took him in a couple days later and he has croup and an ear infection! UGH, winter months sucks. We literally slept right through new years. Next Year were doing something fun!
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We had our family pics taken by my good friend Bethany for our Christmas cards. I didn't want to leave you with no pictures. I found a couple of these on Tanners computer, so here is some Hudson cuteness.
